The TV Series
Logan's Run is a 1977–1978 American CBS-TV series and a spin-off of the 1976 film of the same name. It was produced by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts, and starred Gregory Harrison as Logan 5 and Heather Menzies as Jessica 6. Summary In the 24th century, survivors of a nuclear war live in a domed city where they are only allowed to stay alive until age 30. Runners, who refuse to die in the extermination ceremony known as Carousel, are hunted down and killed by enforcers called Sandmen. Logan is a Sandman who's begun to question the system, and he and a woman named Jessica leave the city to look for a mysterious place called Sanctuary. Along the way they meet an android named Rem, who joins them in their quest. The three of them are being pursued by a Sandman named Francis 7. Episodes The short-lived series started with a 90-minute pilot directed by Robert Day, and written by Saul David, Leonard Katzman and William F Nolan. This pilot aired 16 September 1977, and the last episode aired 16 January 1978. A total of fourteen episodes were produced before the series was cancelled. The series initially had solid ratings but CBS constantly preempted the show which caused the series to lose much of its audience. Only eleven episodes of the series were broadcast on the west coast during its original run. DVD Release The complete run of the series was released by Warner Home Video on Region 1 DVD on 10 April 2012. Originally intended as a DVD-R on demand release, the DVD uses the menu and packaging designed for the DVD-R on demand release planned for 2011. The episodes come from a variety of sources and are of varying quality. Notes D. C. Fontana served as story editor and worked alongside several other writers from Star Trek as well as one of the original novel's authors. Executive Producers of the TV show were Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts, who had created Charlie's Angels. Goff and Roberts also wrote the classic film White Heat, as well as Man of a Thousand Faces about make-up legend and actor Lon Chaney. The series depicted Logan and Jessica—still pursued by Francis 7 (Randolph Powell)—traveling in a futuristic hovercraft-like vehicle on a cross-country trek to Sanctuary in a post-apocalyptic America. The domed city was seen only in the pilot and two other episodes, using recycled footage from the film. In a change from the book and film, the television series had the city run by a cabal of elderly citizens; Francis has been promised a life beyond thirty as a city elder if he can bring back the fugitives. Logan and Jessica were joined on their journey by an android named REM, played by Donald Moffat. The pilot episode was written by William F. Nolan co-author of the original novel with Saul David the original producer of the film and the TV series (until he was dismissed) and series producer Leonard Katzman. When the pilot was presented to the network CBS asked to have part of the pilot reshot with changes to the plot including the introduction of a cabal of city elders who secretly ruled over the domed city. Goff and Roberts were brought on board by MGM when original producer of the TV show (and producer of the film) Saul David was fired from the project and the pilot episode went through reshoots, rewriting and re-editing prior to being green-lit for production as a series. The line producer for the series was Leonard Katzman. Fontana commissioned Harlan Ellison to write a treatment for one episode ("The Crypt" which was heavily revised) and David Gerrold to write a teleplay ("Man Out of Time"). Gerrold's script was rewritten by someone else prompting Gerrold to use his nom-de-plume, Noah Ward, on the episode, but it remained one of the best received of the series. Visual Effects and Props The TV series was one of the earliest to use video to create the visual effects used for the series. Roy Hayes Visual Effects did the visuals specific for the series. Some of the props designed for the movie were reused for the TV series and the pilot episode featured heavy use of the miniatures and visual effects from the movie. Production Design The series used the costume designs for the Sandman uniforms and recycled the guns used in the original film. Mort Rabinowitz worked as the art director on the film assisted by set decorator Linda De Scenna. Vehicles The hovercraft vehicles used for the film were designed by Dean Jeferies Auto Styling. These vehicles were used in other TV shows after the cancellation of the series including CHiPs and were used in movies such as Space Balls and Ice Pirates. The Ground Car was used in the music video for Tom Petty's "You Got Lucky". The vehicles were also rented out for use in a number of low budget films. Category:Series Category:Logan's Index